Gail’s Bakery: how to make Britain’s best gluten-free loaf

A gluten-free sourdough from Gail’s Bakery was recently declared Britain’s Best Gluten-Free Loaf 2020. British Baker caught up with its creator to find out more…

Roy Levy admits he knew nothing about the free-from market when he set about creating Gail’s Bakery’s Gluten-Free Sourdough back in 2016.

The food and creative director, who has worked for the company since 2011, confesses the business was all “all about gluten” and when he first began developing the loaf “it was an absolute disaster”.

Fast forward four years and that very sourdough secured the top spot in the Gluten Free category at Britain’s Best Loaf 2020.

So how does it feel? “Oh boy, it’s something quite special,” Levy admits.

The idea for the brown teff, brown rice, chickpea, buckwheat and tapioca flour creation was born when Levy noticed customers developing an appetite for gluten-free products. “They ask you questions, they give you ideas. The conversation was always there.”

He set to work in a dedicated gluten-free kitchen in Hendon, north London to create a loaf that would employ the same sourdough techniques used elsewhere in the bakery. The aim was to make a good loaf, not just a good gluten-free version. He had to “love it” and the final loaf would avoid stabilisers, eggs and “all sorts of funny ingredients” often found in gluten-free bakery items.

“We use water, salt and a little bit of black treacle,” Levy explains. “There’s no more yeast, no eggs, no stabilisers, no nasties. It’s pure. It’s genuine. It takes a classic 48 hours from mixing to fermenting to shaping to resting to baking.”

The recipe took 12 months to perfect – double the time it usually takes him to develop a new product, but he refused to create “a sad substitute for the real thing”. In the end, he described the “very long journey” as enormously satisfying.

There’s no more yeast, no eggs, no stabilisers, no nasties. It’s pure. It’s genuine. It takes a classic 48 hours from mixing to fermenting to shaping to resting to baking

“Professionally speaking I was doing it because I was curious,” he says. “Can you make a decent, good looking fabulous-tasting sourdough with no commercial yeast and just continue to do what we’ve already mastered with flours that contain no gluten?”

The answer is a resounding yes. Judges of the competition, which was sponsored by ADM, American Pan UK and Scobie McIntosh/Revent, commended the 350g sourdough on its inviting exterior, impressive texture and nice taste, describing it as “everything you’d want from a gluten-free loaf”.

Customers love it as well. On more than one occasion, Levy has been told that the bread “is the best gluten-free anything I’ve ever had”.

He acknowledges the sourdough has been working very hard for the brand behind the scenes without “making too much noise”.

The free-from community knew where to find it and it wasn’t something the Gail’s Bakery really talked about. “If you’re looking for gluten-free anything you don’t immediately think of Gail’s,” he admits. “It was the best secret… it was never a big thing.”

Following the awards triumph that could change, especially as Gail’s plans to launch two more loaves geared towards sandwich use. The move follows feedback from a customer who loved the gluten-free sourdough but found the traditional round shape difficult to slice into squares for sandwiches.

Cue lightbulb moment number two. “We’re going to make a gluten-free sandwich loaf – one with seeds and one with wholemeal – lots of fibre, brown, goodness,” Levy says. “It was already a plan and on our NPD calendar for next year, but the award has given us a bit more of a reason and proves we are going in the right direction.”